About

Hi and welcome Peanut Butter and Peppers!

Here’s a little bit of my story.

First I know I’ll have questions over the blog name, so let me tell you, any of you who know me, know that I LOVE Peanut Butter and Peppers on everything! So I thought, lets put those two names together… and here I am. Now of course I wouldn’t eat them together, or would I? Hmm, now that’s food for thought.

As I stated on the home page, I am currently 30 something, a girl has her prerogative not to tell. Anyway, I currently work full-time in a medical device office and in my remaining spare time I like to cook, exercise and spend time with my wonderful family.

My Husband and I:

Little Jenny and I:

On this blog you will see I love to shop whether it’s for food, clothing or shoes. I plan on sharing with you some of my finds, good or bad! You can always share with me some of yours. Oh and you’ll be hearing a lot about Trader Joe’s! Sorry but that’s my 2nd home.

I will also share with you some stories about my two loves. Sampson and Samantha. They are my two Labrador Retrievers. I will usually reference them as my bad babies, my bad boy and my good girl. Here’s a picture of them:

Sampson:

Samantha:

My overall story:

Over the past couple of years I have lost over 30lbs and my goal is to keep the weight off. That’s where you come in. With me telling you my goals and plans, I feel I that will keep me accountable for my actions. You’ll find that I am the kind of person, who says I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it! So you being here, will keep me real and I will be able to keep my promises to myself and to you.

I currently struggle a bit with my food obsession, not so much with eating it, but with counting the calories. I am trying not to count anymore. I’m really trying! I want to enjoy my life and not have it focused around, I ate this so now I need to exercise for this long to burn it off. It’s not about that, I want to enjoy my meals and know that if I eat a piece of cake, I’m not going to gain 10lbs. I think with listening to my stomach and doing my basic exercising I’ll be fine. We need to find balance in life and that is what I am trying to learn.

I must tell you, I just love to cook and make new creations. My philosophy is to find that balance between good and bad food. I truly believe you can have everything in moderation, just make smart choices. You’ll find healthy recipes and not so healthy recipes here. I also try to make the unhealthy ones a little bit more healthy without sacrificing the flavor. I’ll share with you my good recipes and my flops, so you don’t make the same mistake as me.

I hope you enjoy your visit and come back often. You’ll find lots of great recipes, and some step by step instructions. I value your opinion and any input you have, so please let me know if there is anything you want to know about.

Comments

Hey Jennifer! 🙂 I just found your blog from granola chronicles and wanted to say hello and welcome to the awesome blog world! I love your blog name, well because peanut butter is amazing! and plus your name is pretty original, not many people love peppers enough to put it as part of their title! haha i love it! and your dogs are just soo cute!

Thanks! I love blogging, though my family thinks it’s weird that I take pictures of food! But I love food and they know that! I came up with the name because of my new found love of Peanut Butter and as far as I can remember, I put peppers on everything! I love them!!! There my favorite vegetable. I love your name to!! All my favorites!! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by! I’m heading over to your site now! Have a great weekend!!!!

Thank you so much! You brighten my day! I believe in being honest, and I learned from my experiences and I’m still learning and I want people to know that I understand.

P.S. You don’t want your dog like Sampson. He thinks he’s a little man and can do what he wants and throws a temper tantrum when he doesn’t get his way. The picture you see of him, is something he always did, he sits there and watches me cook too! Now we got a new table with tall seats so he can’t sit there anymore. ha ha But now I made it worse, he lays right at my feet while cooking and he won’t move! Sigh… He’s like my shadow!

Jennifer, I stopped in my tracks when I saw your post on Skinnytaste’s blog. Peanut butter and peppers? Who on earth would put those together? I had to find out! So, I clicked and came to your blog. But, that’s not the rest of the story. I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER AND PEPPERS TOGETHER! It all started when I was a working girl, and often ate with other working girls (ok, we were a skirting middle age by then) at a local Deli sandwich shop. As I would go through the line, no matter what else I was asking for on my sandwich, I always asked for extra peppers. Love them! One day, the Deli owner said she’d eventually think of something I would NOT eat with peppers. I challenged her. Fast forward to my early retirement years, and I got home one day hungry for lunch, but undecided what I wanted. (In those days, I wasn’t watching weight, so anything was game), and decided I really wanted a peanut butter sandwich, but I also wanted something with the nice green pepper staring at me so temptingly from the fridge. Oh, heck, why not put them together? When I was a kid growing up, my Dad had always eaten his peanut butter with mayonnaise. I would often choose mayo instead of jam, too, so on that historic day…. tah, dah…. the amazing Peanut-Butter-Mayo-Pepper sandwich was born! Something sweet and gooey. Something tangy. Something crunchy and sweet. All between two slices of multi-grain bread. YUMMY! Now that I’m wearing the results of eating ‘anything’s game’, and trying to get rid of the weight, I am limiting the peanut butter to 1 tbsp, the mayo to fat-free, and eating more peppers than ever! In fact, since I’m thinking about it, I may have HALF of a peanut-butter-mayo-pepper sandwich on mulit grain for dinner tonight! Keep up the good work, Jennifer! Lee

I love your story. I never had peanut butter and peppers together. I have seen recipes popping around for a spicy peanut butter sauce for stirfy and wraps, so I do know they go together. You have to stop by my blog tomorrow, there’s a small segment about peanut butter and weight. I love the stuff as you can tell, but it maybe damaging my weight, but we shall see with my new experiment. Huh, having mayonnaise and peanut butter together, that sounds weird, but may work. I like peanut butter and milk, peanut butter and yogurt, so my guess is peanut butter and mayo may go great together. If I didn’t eat dinner already, I would so try your sandwich, maybe next Monday? Thank you again for stopping by and sharing your story, I loved it!!! Take care!! – Jennifer

P.S. I am such a pepper freak, like you I could eat it on almost anything!!! There is not a day that goes by that I don’t have some form of pepper.

Hi there, Jennifer! I just discovered your blog and am loving it! I’m also a 30-something N. Californian (except with 2 cats and not married! LOL)
I also work full time and spend free time worrying about what I can & can’t eat, and trying to exercise every day. It’s been a recent lifestyle change for me, and I am loving it. I look forward to reading your blog on a regular basis to help gain ideas, inspiration, and to hopefully cheer you on as well! 🙂
P.S. My male cat is definitely my BAD boy, and my female is such a good girl. So I can totally relate to you on a few levels! 🙂

I’m so glad you discovered my blog, we got a lot of things in common. I love my lifestyle change too. I feel so much better about myself. Sometimes it’s hard sticking to it, but I know in the long run it will be better for me on the inside and out!

Hi Jennifer! You have a great story. Mine is similar, but I’m in my mid-40’s. I also live in NorCal and have 2 kids and 2 dogs! I started a food blog about a year ago http://www.CopperLanternCooking.com and love the process of creating and sharing recipes and tips. January 2011 my husband booked a trip to Kauai and I really felt like I had to lose some weight. I didn’t quite make my goal before the trip, but a year later I’m still down the 40 pounds I set out to lose!

I don’t think calorie counting is all bad. I try to keep a “general” idea of what I’m eating just so I stay aware and don’t fall back into unconscious eating. That is, not even paying attention. When I don’t pay attention, I forget about that snack I had earlier and I’ll have another. If I write it down, even just a quick list on my iPhone or a notepad, I can keep on track. Losing weight and keeping it off in your 40’s is quite a task and I don’t want to have to go through it again in the 50’s, so I’m paying attention. I run 4-5 days a week, do Taekwondo and Kickboxing and it gives me tons of energy. I need it! I have kids, a husband, a house, a yard, a garden, dogs and me to all take care of! Somewhere in there I found the time to open a cupcake bakery. Well, I lied, I didn’t find the time. I stole the time from my family and after only a few months, I felt like I really had to give it back. I opened a successful business, but then had an unsuccessful role as mother and wife. The business had to go, but now I am back to what I LOVE! Your stories are fun and inspirational and I enjoy your recipes.

Where are you in Norcal? Just wondering how close we actually are. I’m about 30 miles east of Sacramento.

I’m having a hard time trying to keep the weight off. It almost seems easier to lose the weight than to maintain it, but I try. I still calculate my calories, just not sure how many I need anymore, so I stick to around 1500 a day. I figured thats pretty safe.

I’m not a runner, as much as I would like to be, but I do jog or speed walk, but I do love kickboxing. Do you go to a class? I just workout to my videos. Funny our stories are very similar. I would love to open a cupcake business, actually my goal is to open a business related to food sometime in the future. I love cooking and baking and seeing smiles when I give someone one of my creations. I told my Husband I wanted to open a Great Harvest Bread Company and he could just work for me. I think he would go for that! I have a step-daughter who is now 20, so I don’t have to worry about kids, just my Husband. I know sometimes I neglect them when it comes to my blogging, but this really what makes me happy and I think they understand.

I live just on the other side of the delta, near Brentwood. So my guess is we live pretty close to each other. It’s really nice to meet you!!

Oh, I forgot to mention. I LOVE peanut butter! I make an incredible banana cupcake with peanut butter filling and a maple buttercream. YUM! I love it on everything. I like to spread a little on a low fat graham cracker as a snack.
I also LOVE peppers! I’ve planted a bunch of different varieties in my garden this year and can’t wait for harvest time to try them!
Not sure if I have the inclination to eat them together. Maybe you need to sponsor a day of try peanut butter and peppers and all of your fans do it together and post comments! Would be kind of a fun challenge day!

Oh my gosh, I need one of your Banana Cupcakes! No, I really mean that! Yum! You know I love peppers, matter in fact after I type this, I’m heading to the garden to plant my peppers. I’m planting Italian Peppers, which are sweet like bells but great for stuffing, grilling and frying. I love them. I planted them last year and we wanted more!! The sponsor day would be fun. Thats something I have to think about to come up with an idea. Have a great Sunday!

Hi Jen!I just found your blog about two weeks ago.I love,love ,love it!I made your beanie zucchini brownies for my picky 8 year old son who gags and has thrown up from eating a black bean(go figure) at the dinner table.He loved them and so did my husband!I had tried a cookie dough with white beans recently and it somewhat successful as well.I really am on a similar journey trying to lose a few pounds without counting calories and without trying to give up desserts completely.I look forward to trying new recipes and I love cooking and baking as well.I have been making some yummy green smoothies as well.Thanks for your blog!I love it!Carmella

I love the Beanie Zucchini Brownies! I haven’t had them for a while and it’s funny because no one knows they are black beans. ha ha I still laugh at that! Good for you for not counting calories. I did it for so long and it became such an obsession for me. It took some hard times but I had to stop. That is so awesome that you trying to give up dessert. I need to do that! I go for so long, then desserts pop back into my life. It’s hard but you need to take it one day at a time. Don’t you just love green smoothies? They are so yummy, and fun to make. I think it’s pretty cool to add spinach or kale into your smoothies and you don’t even taste it! Thank you so much for contacting me and thank you so much for your kind words. You totally made my day!! 🙂

Hey there!! Finally getting time to come over and check out your blog and I love it! I love Trader Joes, love your pups and am a stepmom too!! We have so much in common 🙂
I DEF hope to see more and to also see you at 23PAWS next month!! 🙂

Jennifer, out of all of the food blogs out there I have become so obsessed with EVERY PART of yours! We have so many similar interests (I am obsessed with food, shopping, fitness, family, dogs, PEANUT BUTTER, and yes even peppers). I also pretty much only shop at Trader Joes and was delighted when I saw that your blog had an entire page dedicated to it! I have made a few of your breakfast recipes and am excited to keep testing out more. You have inspired me to possibly create my own blog! Keep it up.

Just found your blog after skimming through comments on Two Peas and Our Pod. You made a reference in your Tradre Joe’s list to a product your husband used to get in Buffalo. That was fun to read…I live outside the city. Small world…love it!!
PS…Wish we had a Trader Joe’s…closest will be Rochester, NY in early October….

I love Buffalo, but we always traveled to Rochester for the random stores and restaurants that weren’t in Buffalo! We used to go to once a month just to get PF Changs. Hopefully they’ll open a TJ’s in Buffalo soon! Just get your coolers ready because when you go to TJ’s your going to want to stock up!

I actually grew up on the Upper West Side of Buffalo, then lived in Amherst, Cheektowaga, Williamsville and Clarence. I moved around a lot when I was in my early 20’s. I do miss Buffalo, especially Mighty Taco! Yum! I loved there Chicken Fajitas!! So glad you found me! Stop back anytime!!

I like the blog, picked it up on a twitter search for frozen yoghurt as I am opening a parlour in the UK soon. I think you’re right not to count – I weigh everyday and I can tell whether I had a sedentary day and or really pigged out. But I think the (very moderate) exercise plus sensible eating is the crucial thing. You write and illustrate beautifully!

I was just introduced to your blog today and am very interested in your recipes. I am type 2 diabetic and was insulin dependent for 4 years, in the last 2 1/2 years have lost 50 pounds and have not had insulin now for over two years {my husband and I are both 79 years old and are both in very good health, but I watch our diets very carefully} I will be following you regularly.
Pat

Love your site!!! I just made a bowlful of various sprouts. I am looking for ways to use them. I tend to shy away from gluten, and have various gluten free flours. I would love to make breads, rolls, cookies, bars, salads, anything from them. I am excited and befuddled all at the same time. Thank you, Charlotte

Hi Jennifer,
I came across your website when I was searching for a blueberry cake recipe that I want to make into French Toast for Easter. (I saw a recipe on the Food Network, but it’s full of sugar and butter). Your recipe sounds great, especially since it sounds healthy. Then I read your weight loss story and I am in the same situation and weight that you were in before you started losing weight. I’m 5’11” too and just started walking to work. Half hour there, half hour back. I have to admit, I don’t like exercising, but I know I need to. Maybe this is the start and I can get back to my wedding year (2001) weight of 135 lbs. You’ve inspired me to try. Thank you!

Hi Rabbit Mother! Thank you so much for your message. Like you I’m not big on exercising, but I know I need to and I feel so much better about myself when I do. That is so awesome that you are walking to work!! Every little step you take counts!! You just have to get your mind set and you can do anything you want! I have to tell myself that all of the time. 🙂 Thank you again for stopping by and leaving such a nice message! Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!! – Jen

Hi there!
I can’t believe I’m emailing you again for your regular peanut butter recipe, I’m sure you think I’m cRaZy but I really just love your recipes!! Anyway I can’t find the recipe on your new blog and you sent me the link to your old one but now it stops at biscotti and cookies for some reason?? Can I get your peanut butter recipe again, please? I promise I’ll just write it down this time! Thank you so much, sorry to be a pain
Kristina

Hi Jennifer,
I hear you about wanting to keep the weight off. I’ve lost about 26 pounds over the last 21 months (still have about 10 more to go), and what I’ve learned is that there is really no good food or bad food. It’s about eating often enough (every 2-3 hours) and getting the right balance of protein, fast carbs, slow carbs and fats. I’ve been struggling with my weight for 50 years or so, and have finally learned enough about how to eat right that I think I can maintain for life, once I reach my goal. That’s amazing since I love both wine and beer. But I’ve also learned that when I get to really enjoy what I eat, and get to eat enough, I don’t need more than one glass of wine or beer. I also don’t need dessert at the end of a meal – a snack a couple of hours later works well for that, if I so desire. The plan we are on has a range of calories for meals and for snacks, for men and for women. We don’t count calories, but I do try to keep general track, so I know that what we are eating is within the appropriate range. I check the nutrition on all recipes I use so I know how to put meals together using those recipes. I’m about to check your blog out further, and am sure I will enjoy it.

Congratulations on the weight loss! That is so awesome!! Everything you said is right on and I agree with you completely!! As you can tell from my recipes, I track all the nutrients of all my recipes. I try to make everything as healthy as I can, but as you said there isn’t good or bad food, it’s how much you really eat and getting the proper nutrition from your meals.

Love your blog! So glad I found you through Flour Me With Love! Following you on FB, +, Pinterest and Bloglovin!

I would love for you to share and link up at my weekly TGIF Link Party if you haven’t already this week. Your favorite posts, most popular, recent or new! The party is open every Thursday night and closes Wednesday’s at midnight. Followed by (Not SO) Wordless Wednesday! http://apeekintomyparadise.blogspot.com/. I would be honored if you join us! Have a wonderful week!

Just found your website through Eat Yourself Skinny. I love your blog from the first time I saw it! I’ve been visiting blogs everyday for I am always up for new and refreshing dishes for my small business. I find it interesting and healthy.

By the way, I have found a cooking competition that I think some of you or you might get interested in. It’s about cooking your national dish. I think it would be a perfect fit for you and to all food lovers to join here. As a prize you can win an Ipad mini or money.

Hope to see you on competition! Goodluck and Best regards to the family!

Jennifer – Hope you don’t mind – I loved your Chocolate Caramel Meringue Cookies so I added them to my food photo site (Food Foto Gallery) for all to see. Attribution was given to you and I hope that you gain a few new visitors, as well.

Jennifer, I just discovered your website and am truly enjoying reading your blog. I love the originality of your ‘name’. I, too, love peppers: green, red, yellow and orange. I also love peanut butter, although I’ve never tried peanut butter and peppers together. It is interesting to see what others will pair up with peanut butter, so I have to mention, my husband LOVES peanut butter and sausage sandwiches. By sausage, I’m talking about beef summer sausage. The first time I saw him make one, I was shocked! I couldn’t believe anyone would mix those two, but he has it often. We have been married for 31 years, and he still hasn’t convinced me to try it, but who knows, maybe one day I will give in. Anyway, congratulations on your weight loss!! I am trying to lose some weight before my daughter’s wedding next June, so I am looking forward to trying some of your recipes, especially the ones with the GO Veggie cream cheese alternative. I hope I am as successful as you at losing the weight. Thanks for your inspiration and your great outlook on the whole process!!

Hi Susan! I am betting your Husband is on to something with peanut butter and sausage sandwiches. Your getting a sweet and salty thing going on with that combo! Now I want to try it! 🙂 Don’t worry, if you stick to eating mostly healthy and getting in a few walks in, you’ll lose some weight for your daughters wedding. Thank you for the kind words! Your an inspiration!

Hi Ashley! You are so sweet, thank you so much and I have to tell you, I LOVE your blog! Such great healthy, good for you recipes. I just signed up for your e-mails. Oh and your photography is just gorgeous!!

Jennifer,
I came across several yummy sounding healthy recipes of yours for smoothies at foodie.com which then led me to peanutbutterandpeppers.com. It is amazing how you are all over the web just by looking at a lot of comments on your pages. Putting them all in my recipe box is just crazy I would be here all day…and today being my 39 +1 birthday(I just cannot bring myself to say the F word lol) I have much to do today. Your site/blog has intrigued me and your Doodles story created the waterworks as I have had to go through that a couple times as a child and I know that is not to far down the road as an adult for my furbabies (I have 2 pit bulls who are just big babies at best, a year apart 8 & 9. and I also have a grandpuppy jack russell/chihuahua mix who is 3)…your strength in making that decision I definitely will remember if I at some point may need to make as well, thank you.

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude with ALL the different recipes you have on here and I would also like to congratulate you on your accomplishments thus far with your goals and encourage you to keep doin what cha doin!!! Without writing a mile long book a little bit about myself…I was where you were at when you started this journey but I was close to 300# and after having both my son (21) and daughter (16) I was in my mid twenties and suffering from massive back and joint pain from carrying the weight with nothing but the choice of either a high dose pain patch to sure get rid of the pain and also make me feel like a zombie or dealing with the pain and sometimes being so severe having to be in bed for days. I after several years of trying to lose weight and then a few years of extensive research on weight loss surgery(WLS) I opted for surgery…by no means this was “an easy way out” (as many people see it that way) it was more like a life changing event that I had to work at and adapt to. So now fast forward from then to 8 years later and here I am at a weight of 160ish give or take. It has been a long journey and I decided back in
January 2014 to start making better health choices and exercising (since the good health choices have mostly went out the window and the exercising well pretty much never occurred from the get go). This is my beginning and I have a co-pilot(my husband) and 2 passengers(my daughter who inherited my genes and my bestest friend) that have decided to come along for the ride.

I belong to a blog/site for people who like myself have had or are going to have WLS and I wanted to share with them your pages as I know this would help them too with food choices and definitely healthy choice encouragement! I hope I can post your button on my profile on that site…if not I will definitely post your web address in any comment that I leave there so anyone can have the opportunity to check your site out and have it also be a part of their journey!

You are a beautiful person all around…I can see it in your pictures and in the words you have posted!!! Thank you for giving me that little extra positive push…I have slightly fallen off the wagon so to speak with exercising for about a month now shhhhh don’t tell anyone lol…I look at it in a positive way as we all have our downfalls, but to rise up again a person pushes that much more to accomplish what they set out to do. Seriously though I want to thank you for your positive attitude and your encouragement and I look forward to reading/commenting on your future posts and most definitely trying many of your yummy recipes you have posted. I think the recipe box for me needs to be the saved ones that I have made and liked lol too many to put in to try 😛

Hi,
Lovely blog. I had a question about your fruit and oats parfait. Would I be able to do everything all the steps the night before and have it taste just as good and how long will it last in the refrigerator? Thanks Elizabeth

I just recently started reading your blog and finished your story about your weight loss, which truly gave me an inspiration to keep going on my journey as I still have 25 more pounds to lose ~ over one of the oldie but goodies but with a not quit attitude and reading your success story am heading onwards to my goal ~ love your attitude and your blog ~ thank you

I love your blog. I’ve been following you since last year. I’ve done many of recipes. I’m looking for some Easter side dish and desert recipes. I know that you put together a bunch of recipes for holidays I couldn’t find Easter. Thanks for sharing your recipes.

Trackbacks

[…] Jennifer wins the award of the most consistent and nice commenter on this blog. Seriously, every morning before I even get to my desk there is a comment from her and she’s on west coast time! Girl, do you sleep? Her site is full of deliciously healthy recipes and fueled by one intense obsession with Trader Joe’s (yes, she has a tab dedicated to it). […]

Hi, Welcome to my blog. My name is Jennifer and I am a health food blogger. I try to take everyday food and make it healthier without sacrificing the flavor. Find out more about me in the About Section of my blog.